Saturday, November 27, 2010

November has been super crazy and I know December is probably going to be worse, but I had to share my daughter's silliness.

I've been trying to teach The Girl charity and giving, but it's hard when you don't have any extra. We have sorted through her toys and gave the ones she didn't want to "other children" aka Goodwill and now that the Salvation Army buckets are out I told her that it was so other children could have nice warm coats and Christmas presents and I gave her some coins to put in the bucket. We went to Walmart today and as we pulled in parking spot she saw the lady ringing the bell and asked if she could put some money in the bucket. Since I wanted to see if my lesson was sticking I asked her, "What is that money for? What do they do with the money we give them?"

The Girl screwed up her face, thought for a moment and said, "It's for robot eyes!"

On Tuesday Little Man had his FINAL occupational therapy session! You heard me right! He has been improving in leaps and bounds. He is mastering a fork and spoon (a little early, but that's normal with sensory kids) and is eating so much more. But not only that, he's also able to deal with touching some things. I was so excited to see him holding and eating a banana! He still has some issues - he HATES getting his face wiped - but it's now in the "quirky" range instead of the "Oh my God he's not eating and is going to starve" range. :) Our wonderful occupational therapist felt comfortable discharging him and said to feel welcome to call if anything came up. I'm so proud of my Little Man!!!

Saturday, October 30, 2010

On Thursday my BFF, my mom and my kids met at my grandmother's house to make soap! My grandmother has made homemade soap for the family for years and it's starting to get a little tired of doing it so it's time for someone else i.e. me to take over the reins. We all met to make a bunch of batches and go over how to make it. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera. :( But, when I went back over the next day I brought it and got a few pics. First off, the recipe for everyone:

Mix Lye Flakes with cold water outdoors (due to fumes). Melt fats. Let both cool. (Lye to 90-95 and lard to close to the same, can be slightly more). Mix in large bowl (not metal. Glass is best, the lye can ruin a plastic bowl) and stir with a wooden or plastic spoon until thick enough that it "traces", the soap should lay on the top for a moment before sinking back in. When soap is consistency of pudding you can add any essential oils, colors, etc. Line soap molds with plastic wrap and pour into molds. Leave soap in molds 24 hours. Turn out onto towels and cut into blocks. Leave in an out of the way place for 2 weeks, turning occasionally. Then ready to use!

Some quick tips:#1 Wear Gloves!!! Lye burns if it touches your skin, keep vinegar on hand if it does.

#2 Instead of using a spoon to mix it (which feels like forever) pick up a cheap hand held blender. Makes it MUCH quicker!

#3 You can get the lye at Lowe's or any hardware store but make sure it's Sodium Hydroxide. If you get Potassium Hydroxide the soap ends up too soft. My grandmother says she usually orders it online from a chemical company.

#4 Drawer organizers make great soap molds.We had a lot of fun! Pictures of ingredients:

The Hand Blender we used. It really helped!

Ready to take out and cut.

Doesn't that look pretty?

Nice even pieces ...

The fruits of our labor! We made a lot!

The Girl and Little Man were so good playing at Grandma's house and not being in the middle of everything. And it was fun to have bonding time with my Mom and Grandma! It was so great that Anna (my BFF) was able to make it. We plan on trying to make a batch or two at her house together so we're both more comfortable at it. I really am turning into a hippie! ;)

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

It works GREAT! My clothes have been very clean and fresh and smell great. The biggest test was in this last load. The Girl had gotten taco meat on her pale purple dress and I forgot to put stain remover on it. It then sat in the laundry room for several days. I just threw it in the washing machine and used the homemade detergent and 90% of the stains came out! There is one still there, but it is very faint and I think I only see it because I know it was there and searched. I am very impressed and will definitely plan on continuing making it!

My next batch with be with a bar of homemade soap and I will see how it is. I may decide to continue using Fels Naptha since it's so great at stain removing.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Well, I decided to try to make my own laundry detergent. For several reasons, it's better for the environment and it's cheaper! Not to mention it sounds cool! :)

A friend gave me the recipe and at first I was having a hard time finding all the ingredients. I looked on Amazon.com and everything would have come to $20. :( I was about to move on when I decided to check in our local Ace Hardware. I don't know about the Ace Hardware near you, but our Ace always seems to have all the weird, kooky things you can't find anywhere else. So I asked the lady at the counter and she pointed to the end of the aisle where all three ingredients were all standing right next to each other! It only came to $10.37! So here I go ...

Dry Laundry Detergent

1 Bar of soap (Fels Naptha is recommended and that's what I used for my first batch. I've been told Ivory works well too. Next time I plan on trying our family's homemade soap.)

1 Cup Borax

1 Cup Arm and Hammer Washing Soda (NOT baking soda) This was the hardest one to find.

I decided to go with the dry kind because it seemed simpler to make then the liquid, easier to store and I've always preferred powder detergent.

First I chopped the bar of soap into chunks and put it in the food processor. Luckily my mother was about to get rid of a food processor that was finicky, but that worked for me! Then I didn't have to get my regular food processor all soapy.

Then since I'm a little lazy and it seemed simpler I put the borax and the washing soda straight into the food processor.

Then I was done! I threw it in a quart size ziploc bag for now. It looks like a small amount, but it's concentrated so I am told you only need 1 tablespoon per load, 2 tablespoons if it's an extra dirty or big load. I should add that a friend told me she bought $12 worth of supplies the first time and it took her nearly a year to run out of one of the ingredients! $12 for a year's worth of detergent? Heck, yeah!

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

I went to the homeschool mom meeting last night and as we were discussing our "normal day schedule" two things dawned on me.

#1 I spend WAY too much time online.

#2 The Girl controls everything we do in this house.

How did I let this happen? I never thought I would have a dictator as a daughter. I didn't even realize it was happening. We leave the house everyday because The Girl "has" to, she decides what we eat for breakfast, lunch and snack, on days I don't have specific places to go she "tells" me where we should go and I usually say "okay'.

My first step will be Mama chooses all foods. It was very interesting when she said she was hungry and I went to get the snack of my choice (carrots) and she said "I don't want carrots." Okay. So I sat back down. The look on her face was priceless.

The second step will be cutting down on TV. We don't have cable or satellite so we just have a large collection of DVD's to watch. We all wake up slowly in the morning so we usually watch something when we first get up and Mama can get in the shower. But from now on after that one there will be no TV until after dinner. (Sick days don't count!) ;)

My third resolution is simple. If I don't have something I want to do we don't leave the house. And I'm trying to limit how many trips to the store, so we will probably have at least 2 or 3 days a week where we stay at home.

This is going to be very interesting. Someone is in for a rude awakening ...

Monday, October 18, 2010

I've been trying to work on positive reinforcement with The Girl. So I found some great behavior charts on this website and printed one that looked like it would work for her. I chose one that had pictures to make it easier for her to know what we're doing and then I added a spot for feeding the cats (her one chore, well, along with putting her plates in the sink after eating). She gets a sticker once she does each thing and at the end of the week if all the stickers are filled in she gets a treat (picking out something at the Dollar Tree).

I modified a couple things that were listed, "Dress Myself" means get ready in the morning nicely (get dressed, brush teeth, etc). "Go to Bed Nicely" equals naptime, she has to at least have a quiet time in her room reading (she actually falls asleep maybe once a week). "Pick up my Toys" pretty much means ... umm, pick up your toys. "Share My Things" is share and be nice to your brother. (Obviously this will be overall for the day). Like my little cat? I added one spot for her feeding the kitties.

I'm very optimistic. The Girl was very excited about it and kept going over to the fridge and going over the things she needed to do and she LOVED getting to pick out a sticker when she got something done. I had picked up a book full of 580 reward stickers at a clearance for $0.50 years ago and I finally pulled it out. Handy little thing! I'll let you know at the end of the week how it ends up!

Oh, and because I just had to post this adorable picture of her and Bonnie .... ;)

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

On Sunday my grandmother watched the kids and Daddy and I got to go out to eat with my sister and her boyfriend! It was so nice! We went to Red Lobster (it was sister's boyfriend's birthday and he got to pick) and everything was quite yummy. I almost forgot how fun it was to go out with another couple and act goofy and non-parent. AND I remembered to bring my camera!

Unlabeled Daddy and Unlabeled Mama

My sister and her better half acting goofy

Big, silly group shot

My husband and I find it very funny that of all the couple friends we've tried to become close with it's my little sister and her boyfriend who are nine years younger then us that we have the most fun with. Just a family thing? :)

Monday, October 4, 2010

The Girl was horrible in the store today. She was difficult at home before we left so I had a little talk with her before we went into Walmart.

"Stay with Mama."

"Listen and Do what Mama says."

Guess how that went? I just need some way to communicate with her. I feel like I go over the same things over and over and over and she just doesn't get it. I get so frustrated with her. And now when I tell her to do something she has started yelling at me or trying to hit me. Really??? Her first appointment with the therapist was last week. We just discussed her behavior. Next week we have another appointment and I hope she will give us a direction to go in!

Friday, September 24, 2010

On Monday I went to my first homeschool meeting! Well, my first homeschool meeting as a parent. It felt so weird, but was a lot of fun to be able to sit with other moms interested in the same things and just talk!

Then today we went to the homeschool playgroup at the park. There was 12 other children there besides my two, the youngest there was 3 months and the oldest was 8 or 9. The Girl had an absolute ball! Little Man loved watching all the kids run around. The Girl and the other children where playing something with prisoners and guards and she just didn't want to leave. Some of the other ladies brought picnic lunches and The Girl really wanted to stay. I will have to remember do that next time!

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Little Man's speech therapy is going great! He gets very excited when Miss Gloria gets here, it's time when everyone is focused on him and just plays. He's had a month of speech therapy so far and is saying "Mama", "Da-ee" (Daddy), "tee" (kitty) and "boo" (book) consistently at home after having zero words a month ago. During speech therapy he has said "mo" (more), "bag", "bubu" (bubbles), and has signed "more". We're very proud of him!

Monday, September 20, 2010

It was a super busy week and a fun, busy family weekend! I had 3 appointments for the kids and a lot of errands this week and we really didn't stop! We loved our fun family weekend. It started with a trip to the County Fair. This county has one of the last purely agriculture fairs, so no rides which most people think is weird, but we're used to!

At the Fair: The Girl and the cow

Little Man loved the goats!

And so did The Girl! Unlabeled Daddy said it almost made him want to get a goat! At least then he wouldn't have to mow! ;)

Then on Sunday we got The Girl's new big girl bike out and went to the Greenway. It only took her a few minutes to figure it out. We were so proud of her! Here's my big, smart girl:

What a big girl!

Little Man running to keep up

Someone has bike envy .... So proud and sad to see her peddle away from us. :( I guess this is growing up. It can be hard on Mama!

Saturday, September 11, 2010

For some reason September 11th is hitting me harder this year. I was raised on Long Island about 40 miles east of the City and even though we moved when I was 9 I still feel like a New Yorker.

Nine years ago I was driving to work at the Cupboard Cafe in Dillard, GA and the radio announcer said that a plane had hit the Trade Center. Everyone assumed it was an accident, but they didn't know what was going on. I was walking into work when the second plane hit. We had several TV's in the dining room and they were on the news and turned up all day. One of the most difficult parts of my day was breaking the news to travelers who came in to eat and hadn't been listening to the radio. One man went white and ran outside to use his phone. Turned out his brother was in New York that day. Thankfully he was able to get a hold of his sister-in-law and find out he was alright.

I think that day changed how a lot of us thought about being Americans. We all banded together. Firefighters, police and volunteers jumped in their cars and drove to Manhattan to help and do everything they could. People too far away donated blood, arranged food drives, helped stranded travelers and did everything they could for each other. We came together. The entire nation functioned like a community, a family, thinking of each other. I wish we hadn't lost that. Why did we forget so quickly?

Thursday, September 9, 2010

I'm in a contemplative mood today. Not really a good thing. I have so much that I want out of life that I feel we have to wait on because of a couple of bad financial decisions we had when we were a little younger. :( Nothing major - but just enough that we can't afford much until we finish with it.

We want to move and are slowly figuring out where we want to go. We had plans on moving before The Girl was born, but it got pushed aside when we found out we were pregnant. We have a town we are leaning towards now, but need to check it out first. We get frustrated not having anything around us. We live in the middle of nowhere with an hour drive to the nearest mall, museum, Target or good grocery store. I hate that whenever the kids need any clothes it's a day trip. I hate that we live somewhere that doesn't have anywhere in the entire town that sells maternity clothes! That's just pathetic.

On to my next thought ... I want a baby. I am close with my sister and I want The Girl to get to experience a sister or Little Man a brother. I don't want a huge difference in age either. I want them to enjoy playing with each other. But I know if we want to move we might have to put it off. That's where I go around and around in my head. Lowering our expenses so we can move without huge difficulties vs. having the baby we want and letting the chips fall.

Yesterday was one of my first Saturdays off in a very long time. It was so wonderful! Unlabeled Daddy and I took the opportunity to take the kids to Asheville. We didn't do much, but it was nice to get out of town and be together. And to top off my good day I fit into my size 10 jeans! Whoohoo!!

The Girl was very good with only 2 little incidents all day. I was so proud of her! She loves clothes shopping and we only got a couple little things, but she picked out a dress, a little t-shirt and we found a cute pair of boots that she just adores that were originally $34.99 and we got them for $12.99! Showing off her new boots and dress:

Little Man was kind of fussy but that's what happens when his naptime gets messed up. All in all it was just a laid back family day. My favorite kind!

Thursday, September 2, 2010

I've been debating doing Pre-K with The Girl this year since she's been so wild. We've been having a lot of behavior issues and I thought I should focus on that. But I decided to get a little workbook just in cause and yesterday after her rest time I let her play with Play-doh for a little while and then we sat down and did 3 pages until she said she was done and got down. I was very pleased at how she paid attention. Then we used some flash cards to practice her counting. She had no problem doing up to ten. Thank you Sesame Street! ;) I think she did very well and we may not do some everyday, but I think we definitely with do a low key Pre-K program this year and an added bonus, she seemed to love the one on one time and was very relaxed!

Saturday, August 28, 2010

My husband is working this morning so the kids and I hung out around the house this morning and I finished reorganizing The Girl's room! Whoohoo me! Her room is always a disaster area - usually books completely covering the floor. So I took all the books off her shelf and have two bags full of ones to donate to the Friends of the Library, I filled a large rubbermaid tub with books that were too old for her or she doesn't read much, put the younger books in her brother's room and the rest was put in two clothes bins. She had A LOT of books! I put her larger toys on the bookshelf - the top shelf was reserved for Barbies and she liked arranging them. Dolls and stuffed animals are in a wicker basket at the end of her bed and I had one smaller bin for her little toys. Oh, and I filled a garbage bag for Goodwill!

Pictures ...The usual state of her room:

Now:

One bin of book and her larger toys

My Girl!A little reading spot!

After all that the kids and I went downtown to get "Water for Elephants" the new book my Mommy Book Club is doing and we had fun window shopping down Main Street. Then off to home for lunch and naps. It's been a nice day so far! I hope work is just as good tonight!

Friday, August 27, 2010

My little sister is moving into her first apartment this weekend. Awww. I remember my first apartment. The tiniest thing you can imagine! I had one of those small wooden frame futons as a couch and if I unfolded it it filled the entire living room! It was a hallway kitchen leading back to the bedroom and I could barely fit both a full size bed and a desk in there. But I LOVED it! The first place that was all MINE. I could decorate it how I wanted and be there all alone. What a wonderful time ...

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

It was Little Man's 18 month well check today. Yes, already! He weighed in at 20 lbs 4 oz and 32 inches long. Such a little guy! His only words are "Hi" and "kitty" but we are already getting help from the speech therapist, nutritionist and occupational therapist so the pediatrician said he looked excellent.

I did get a chance to discuss The Girl's behavior issues with her too. She said she had no problem giving me a referral, but unfortunately she had just found out today that the therapist she usually refers to is moving out of the area, so we have to figure out who would be the best person for The Girl to see. If it's not one thing it's another!

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

#2 the speech therapist is coming today for Little Man's first session and my house is a mess.

#3 When I tried to take a shower I came out to something on Little Man's face. Turns out The Girl went in my bedroom (where she is not supposed to be) climbed up my dresser (where she is not supposed to touch) and took my nail polish. She then got it on her dress, her brother, my bedroom carpet, Little Man's toys and spilled the rest of it on the kitchen floor. Can I please refer you back to #2?

I spent the next hour trying to clean it all up while The Girl spent that time in her room. Does anyone have tips to get nail polish out of carpet? The nail polish remover is not cutting it ...

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

My kids are close to being underweight. My daughter is 4 years old and is 34 lbs and 42 inches tall. My son will be 18 months next week and is just barely 20 lbs, and this is after months of working with him and trying to get him to eat. So here I am trying to loose weight and I'm desperately trying to get calories into my kids! It makes it very difficult for me. This stuff is in the house and I can't always do low fat options for the family because my kids need it. I almost envy the women whose whole families are overweight. They can just focus on only having healthy, low fat options in the house! Instead I buy pizza and cheese and chicken nuggets because my kids will eat them and they are high calorie foods. The nutritionist even recommended loading up in butter and margarine, but I have a hard time going that far. Ugh. Just frustrated!

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

In honor of World Breastfeeding Week Gisele Bündchen is in the news for saying “I think there should be a worldwide law . . . that mothers should breastfeed their babies for six months,” says Bündchen. “Some people here think they don’t have to breastfeed and I think, ‘Are you going to give chemical food to your child when they are so little?’”

First of all ... WTH??

Second, is she really proposing to tell billions of women what they can or can't do with their bodies?

Third, what about those millions of women who cannot breastfeed? Those who have had breast reductions, or mastectomies or have to go to work full-time to feed their family and are away from their babies for over 8 hours a day? Or women like me with my daughter? When The Girl was born I was set on exclusively breastfeeding. But something went wrong. I would sit and let her nurse for hours, but at 1 month old she was still BELOW her birth weight. The doctor gently suggested supplementing with formula and The Girl adored it! She gulped down her first bottle and screamed every time I would offer her my breast. None of that for her! To this day I don't know if my milk didn't come in correctly or if it was my impatient daughter's problem. But either way I wasn't going to continue when my daughter obviously hated it and she grew tall and skinny and brilliant with formula.

When my son came along I was going to give breastfeeding another chance, but I decided I wouldn't be crushed if it didn't work out. When he ended up in the NICU I was sure that it would be a losing battle but I would try. I ended up exclusively breastfeeding my son for 6 months and he weaned himself from his last 2 nursing times a day at 13 months.

Monday, August 2, 2010

My little sister turned 19 yesterday and that blows my mind. I was 9 1/2 when she was born and when I was 11 we left my stepfather. I practically helped raised her and our younger brother (17 months between them). I changed so many diapers and read "Hop on Pop" SO many times. That was her favorite book as a toddler and I ended up memorizing the stupid thing! She drove me crazy and between the two of them convinced me I would never want children. Heehee. My mom swore they were the world's best birth control for me as a teenager! When I was expecting The Girl people made stupid comments about how I would be with my first child. Nope, already raised two! By the time I got to my own I was an old hand! Now my sis is working on college and waitressing and hoping to be a photojournalist or in graphic design. I'm so proud of her!

Friday, July 30, 2010

I'm a movie buff, we own over 300 DVD's and there is so many I feel like I'm "missing". The other day at work we were discussing our top 10 favorite movies and I realized that I didn't think I could narrow it down that far! It peaked my interest though, so I came home and wrote a list. It may not be the most high class list and I may have forgotten a few, but here are my top 25 favorite movies in no particular order ...

1. Monty Python and the Holy Grail2. Independence Day3. On The Town4. The Mummy5. Rent6. Star Trek7. The Quiet Man8. Serenity9. Galaxy Quest10. Equilibrium11. French Kiss12. The Toy Story Trilogy13. Across the Universe14. The Dark Knight15. Singing in the Rain16. Boondock Saints17. Liar, Liar18. Lilo and Stitch19. The Bourne Trilogy20. Evolution21. Harvey22. Shaun of the Dead23. A Knight's Tale24. The Matrix25. Men in Black

I think it's actually a pretty broad range! So what's your top movies?

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Today was a very difficult day. The Girl just wouldn't listen to a word I said. Little Man thinks it's hysterical to run in the opposite direction when I tell him to come. The speech therapist is coming tomorrow to do an more in depth evaluation and the house is a disaster area. Every time I start cleaning they come right behind me and make it was then it was to begin with. Arrgh.

I struggle so much with The Girl. I feel like I'm just doing so badly with her. My mom saw an incident today and told me that I did everything like I was supposed to, but it just made no difference. What do you do when you are doing everything right and it just doesn't work? It just made me want to cry. I really hope that referral goes through quickly!

Monday, July 26, 2010

Well, Unlabeled Daddy found a new job (hurray!) and has already gotten a raise (double yeah!!). So things are starting to look better for us financially. We're not caught up, but it's looking better!

Little Man is still not talking and is 17 months now (today actually). Since he spent time in the NICU he is considered high risk for delays and he has had regular developmental appointments in the nearest city which is an hour away from us. At least it was only every 4 months! They referred us to the local Developmental Agency for evaluation. It was agreed he was delayed and is talking at a 10 month level. The speech therapist will be coming on Friday to do a more in depth evaluation and we will go from there. We also talked about his food issues. He is a little peanut, not even 20 lbs yet and he just won't eat! He won't even try "new" food. We have to jump through hoops to get him to eat anything. For instance, he will not eat grilled cheese sandwiches cut into quarters, but if you cut it in bit size pieces he will. They think it might be a sensory issue, so we are now waiting on an Occupational Therapist to evaluate him.

THEN, while the were evaluating Little Man, Princess Red Chief was acting like a wild child. We started discussing her and they agreed that she and I could use some help. They are referring her to a therapist that specializes in 3-5 year old children. Hopefully, she will be able to work with Princess and I. I adore my daughter. She is funny and loving and sweet and loves to help, BUT we end up going over the same things over and over and over and she still gets upset at me when I discipline her over it. It's like she just thinks I'm being mean and that she didn't do anything wrong even though I just told her not to do it. :::sigh::: God, give me patience. I sometimes feel like I spend the whole day yelling at her and it breaks my heart.

I guess I just needed to get this out and I will try to keep this updated with all our new therapy adventures!

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

For the last 3 nights Little Man has slept ALL NIGHT LONG! 8:30-8:00 on Saturday night, 9:00-7:30 on Sunday night and 8:30-7:00 Monday night! Is this enough of a trend to expect to sleep every night? He has woke up several times a night since his birth and I feel very strange having had more then 4 hours of sleep at a time.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Sorry I've been completely gone! Right after Thanksgiving my computer had a nervous breakdown. My genius uncle was kind enough to fix it (and update it!) for free, but it was not finished until Christmas. It is now better then ever, but I was having major computer withdrawals!

December was a month of firsts for my Little Man. He crawled for the first time, had his first snow and his first Christmas! Princess never really had the traditional crawling stage so it's been an adjustment. He moves so quickly!! He has always wanted to be attached to me at all times, but now that he is mobile he wants to GO. Discovering his sister's room was like a treasure trove. He's always making a beeline down the hall now. He's very lucky that she is enjoying having someone to play with and doesn't mind him being in her toy boxes. Having them enjoying each others company and playing together has been a godsend! It's so wonderful. Of course this morning I was reminded that children who play together get in trouble together when they spread saltines all over the kitchen. They work fast! But it was a quick clean up and seeing the look on Little Man's face when his sister is playing and paying attention to him is so worth it!

I am a pretty nerdy, slightly hippie, homeschooling mama of four minions. Busy loving and teaching my 2 girls and 2 boys with my husband of 14 years. Right now I'm holding on to my sanity and trying to help my children grow into themselves!